Text Size

-

+

reset

“We’ve got foreign news media here too, such as Al Jazeera and others that are operating here,” Sessions (R-Ala.) told POLITICO. “If you do that, you create a conduit to be able to move information from terrorists into the public domain or otherwise that can’t be justified.”

On Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he is signing on to co-sponsor the legislation, which was reintroduced this week by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at the request of the White House.

“I’m going to be the chief co-sponsor,” Graham said. He added with a laugh, “As much as I hate ya’ll, I think you should do your jobs. And my hate and disgust can’t describe it. I’ve run out of adjectives. But you should be able to be the annoyance you are.”

I’m going to be the chief co-sponsor. As much as I hate y’all, I think you should do your jobs. And my hate and disgust can’t describe it. I’ve run out of adjectives. But you should be able to be the annoyance you are.”

New attention is on a shield law after it was revealed that the Justice Department had obtained two months of phone records from The Associated Press while investigating a leak. The bill would protect reporters from subpoenas requiring them to divulge sources, notes or other news materials like video or photos, unless government investigators, met certain criteria and obtained clearance from a judge.

Sessions said while he understands that the White House bill has a national security exception, most of the information the federal government seeks is related to national security and therefore that makes changing the law moot.

“I am not at all sure that the current law needs to be altered. This administration, I would assume, didn’t do it recklessly, but let’s see what they did do,” Sessions said. “I’m sure we’ll go back and look at it again.”

While most states offer some protection for reporters, federal law doesn’t provide special protection for journalists. However, federal courts have recognized that journalists are entitled to protections under the First Amendment, those rulings vary by district courts.

Former Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and Schumer attempted to pass an identical bill in 2009, which gained approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan basis, but never managed to get a vote on the floor.

In 2011, former Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) sponsored a similar shield law in the House, which also passed there but never managed to get support in the Senate.

Most lawmakers asked about the most recent attempt said they support protecting reporters in general, but cautioned they had not yet been able to read the current version introduced by Schumer.

“It sounds like the right way to go,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he’s reviewing the bill.

“It’s something many states have passed that I think is generally a positive,” Kaine said.

Manu Raju contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to Sen. Tim Kaine (R-Va.) as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.